Rohan Banerjee

A few years ago, asking a junior colleague to make a phone call would not have registered as a particularly daunting task. Now, it seems, many younger staff would be more willing to donate a kidney than call a restaurant to push a booking back an hour. In media, I have been astounded by twentysomethings’ reluctance to pick up the phone. Instead, they’ll embark on a long campaign of avoidance: an initial email, a 'gentle nudge', and then a 'just moving this to the top of your inbox', all while hours drift between the lack of responses.   It’s inefficient and, frankly, a bit sad.

‘Congratulations! We’re delighted to inform you that you’ve made it through to the fifth stage.’ At this point, I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry. I’d done the HR screening call; completed the written task; got through the first-stage interview and then repeated myself in the second. So what, exactly, was left? A PowerPoint presentation? A half-marathon? Solving a Rubik’s cube underwater?   Experiences like this became a common feature of my life after I was made redundant from my job at a technology magazine in 2024. While I was fortunate enough to secure regular freelance and contract work, the lack of a fixed salary quickly created friction elsewhere.